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James Harden attributes Houston's success without Dwight Howard to the Rockets' depth.

That theory will get tested longer than the club may have anticipated.

After receiving news Howard will be out the rest of February, the Rockets look to win for the sixth time in seven tries as they host the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

Houston (34-15) has gone 4-1 without Howard, who has been out with a knee injury. He had a bone marrow aspirate injection before the Rockets' 101-90 victory over Chicago on Wednesday and is expected miss at least four more weeks.

The Rockets were outrebounded 60-47 against the Bulls, but Harden finished with 27 points, Trevor Ariza added 20 and Donatas Motiejunas had 15 and 10 rebounds.

Motiejunas is averaging 19.5 points over his last four after scoring 10.9 per game prior to that stretch.

"We've got so many weapons and so many guys who can contribute," Harden said. "It makes the game easier for everyone. It's a grind. It doesn't stop. I enjoy the journey. I enjoy the grind. That's what keeps me motivated and pushing every single day."

Howard's absence has done nothing to slow Houston, which has won seven of eight at home. Missing the three-time defensive player of the year hasn't stopped Houston from playing well on that end of the floor, either.

The Rockets have held opponents to an average of 94.4 points since Howard went down, exactly four fewer than what they're allowing per game on the season.

"Every night, our motto is to be aggressive (defensively)," Harden said. "We have so many guys playing and contributing that we don't worry about getting tired."

Harden scored 34 points and Motiejunas added 20 in a 117-103 win over Milwaukee on Nov. 29, the Rockets' third consecutive victory in the series. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 18 in that contest for the Bucks (27-22), who have won a season-high five straight.

Milwaukee lost prized rookie Jabari Parker to a torn ACL in December, but it has continued to experience quite a turnaround under first-year coach Jason Kidd following a 15-67 season in 2013-14.

The Bucks had four players score at least 20 points for the first time since 2009 in Wednesday's 113-105 overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers -- Antetokounmpo (25), Brandon Knight (24), Khris Middleton (21) and O.J. Mayo (21).

Mayo hit a jumper with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to send the game to OT.

"We're just grinding," Mayo said. "Even if our energy isn't there, our heart and effort is there. We found a way to get that win."

Kidd has been most impressed how the holdovers from the conference's worst team and newcomers have come together to embrace a different system after the change in leadership.

Milwaukee sits in sixth place in the East.

"This is a new group, all the way from top to bottom," Kidd said. "As a whole, we have to learn each other and understand who we are. I think this group has grown pretty fast in terms of knowing what's important."

Milwaukee has won three straight on the road, but has dropped 12 of the last 14 in Houston.

Freefloater wrote:Boy we won again without Howard the Rim protector...how can that be?
he must be playing on Atlanta cause they are the best team in NBA right now....

000001 wrote:

Freefloater wrote:Boy we won again without Howard the Rim protector...how can that be?
he must be playing on Atlanta cause they are the best team in NBA right now....

do you really believe we are better without howard????

Freefloater wrote:RIM PROTECTION MY ASS... how many times this season we were blown out of the building with him protecting the rim...some protection...

Rockets data has Howard rated the top rim protector in the league by a wide margin, allowing just 86 points per 100 possessions when opponents are within five feet of the basket on drives. No other center has a defensive rating better than 93 in those situations.

Opponents shoot just 37 percent in the post against Howard, fourth among players who have defended 200 shots in the post after Rudy Gobert, Tim Duncan and Anthony Davis.

Though there seemed to be relatively little debate about Howard’s worthiness to be selected to the All-Star team, he leads all Western Conference centers in defensive rating according to NBA.com.

Freefloater wrote:

000001 wrote:

Freefloater wrote:Boy we won again without Howard the Rim protector...how can that be?
he must be playing on Atlanta cause they are the best team in NBA right now....

do you really believe we are better without howard????

it has nothing to do with belief just pure logic, eyetest and RESULTS....
on the other hand i believe Howard is a great guy and could be a great player if used differently...

ps
RIM PROTECTION MY ASS... how many times this season we were blown out of the building with him protecting the rim...some protection...

000001 wrote:

Freefloater wrote:

000001 wrote:

do you really believe we are better without howard????

it has nothing to do with belief just pure logic, eyetest and RESULTS....
on the other hand i believe Howard is a great guy and could be a great player if used differently...

ps
RIM PROTECTION MY ASS... how many times this season we were blown out of the building with him protecting the rim...some protection...

i disagree

results of games a lot of times lie

rockets have won a lot of games were they played bad basketball this season ... only because harden is having a career year ...

howard alters so many shots during the games ,rim protector does not mean the other team is going to have 0 layups and 0 points inside the paint every game

that was bull s h i t vs the blazers corey brewer playing the center position in crunch time

we need howard back

texasholdem wrote:

Freefloater wrote:RIM PROTECTION MY ASS... how many times this season we were blown out of the building with him protecting the rim...some protection...

Dunno how accurate the data is but Feigen writes:

Rockets data has Howard rated the top rim protector in the league by a wide margin, allowing just 86 points per 100 possessions when opponents are within five feet of the basket on drives. No other center has a defensive rating better than 93 in those situations.

Opponents shoot just 37 percent in the post against Howard, fourth among players who have defended 200 shots in the post after Rudy Gobert, Tim Duncan and Anthony Davis.

Though there seemed to be relatively little debate about Howard’s worthiness to be selected to the All-Star team, he leads all Western Conference centers in defensive rating according to NBA.com.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2347 ... l-strength